Altria Group Inc. , the largest seller of tobacco in the U.S., reported third-quarter profit that exceeded analysts' estimates after it boosted cigarette prices. Net income was $1.4 billion, or 71 cents a share, compared with $1.4 billion, or 70 cents, a year earlier, the Richmond, Virginia-based company said today in a statement.
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United Parcel Service Inc. reported third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates, buoyed by international exports, and said it expects shipments during December to climb 11 percent. Net income rose 11 percent to $1.21 billion, or $1.32 a diluted share, from $1.1 billion or $1.16 a share a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
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Chiquita Brands International Inc. will proceed with its 352 million-euro bid to buy rival banana producer Fyffes Plc after rejecting a higher takeover offer from Brazil's Cutrale Group and Safra Group. The Cutrale-Safra bid of $14 a share for Chiquita, raised from an initial $13, is "inadequate," Charlotte, North Carolina-based Chiquita said in a statement after the close of trading yesterday.
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The Russell 2000 Index, once the bull market's star, has seen its shine dim amid a three-month decline that has shaved almost 5 percentage points off its annual return since March 2009. The gauge, down 13 percent since early July, has fallen for six weeks, the longest slump since 2005.
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Rio Tinto Group may decide that its best defense against another takeover approach from Glencore Plc is buying the largest mining company in the U.S. A bid for Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will probably look tempting to London-based Rio as a way to stymie Glencore, said Paul Gait, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. Freeport, a $32 billion copper producer that expanded into energy last year, is the cheapest it's been in more than 15 months relative to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. "I would be amazed if they aren't running the ruler over it," Gait said in a phone interview from London.
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Rio Tinto Group may decide that its best defense against another takeover approach from Glencore Plc is buying the largest mining company in the U.S. A bid for Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will probably look tempting to London-based Rio as a way to stymie Glencore, said Paul Gait, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. Freeport, a $32 billion copper producer that expanded into energy last year, is the cheapest it's been in more than 15 months relative to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. "I would be amazed if they aren't running the ruler over it," Gait said in a phone interview from London.
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Alcoa Inc. , the largest U.S. aluminum producer, reported its highest earnings in three years after prices rebounded and demand increased from car, truck and plane makers. Profit excluding one-time items was 31 cents, the New York-based company said yesterday, surpassing the 22-cent average of 17 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
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Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, forecast profit from auto and aerospace components will increase in the fourth quarter as it sells a record amount of the metal to carmakers. Alcoa, which is shifting its focus to manufacturing components and alloys, said it would deliver a record amount of aluminum sheet to automakers this quarter as car and truck manufacturers use more of the lightweight metal.
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Borrowers are feeling the pinch in the U.S. loan market as the Federal Reserve boosts its oversight of high-risk corporate debt. Banks increased interest rates on almost 54 percent of the leveraged loans they arranged last month, up from 36 percent in August and the most since January 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
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Borrowers are feeling the pinch in the U.S. loan market as the Federal Reserve boosts its oversight of high-risk corporate debt. Banks increased interest rates on almost 54 percent of the leveraged loans they arranged last month, up from 36 percent in August and the most since January 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
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North Carolina was blocked by a federal appeals court from enforcing parts of a new voting law that would unfairly affect black voters in the Nov. 4 election in a victory for groups challenging similar restrictions in states across the U.S. The southern swing state must renew same-day voter registration and voters' ability to cast ballots outside their precincts, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia , said today in a 2-1 ruling. Other provisions, such as "strict" voter-identification rules, were left intact.
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An Oklahoma federal judge dealt a blow to President Barack Obama 's health-care law, invalidating IRS rules aimed at making policies affordable for consumers around the country. U.S. District Judge Ronald White in Muskogee ruled today that subsidies, in the form of tax credits, apply only to consumers in the 14 states that have set up insurance marketplaces and not to individuals who buy insurance on the federal marketplace, as in Oklahoma.
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Dominion Resources Inc. won approval to export liquefied natural gas from an East Coast terminal it intends to place in a publicly traded partnership. U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the permit, according to a filing today.
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U.S. stocks fell, with the Standard & Poor's Index headed for a third day of losses, as health-care shares slid amid a government crackdown on tax-saving mergers and as the Middle East conflict escalated. Medtronic Inc. slid 3.2 percent after the Treasury Department disclosed plans to limit inversion deals.
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Sony Corp. is paying a price for clinging to the smartphone and television businesses while competitor Panasonic Corp. prospers after pulling back from those products sooner. Sony fell as much as 13 percent, the most since March 2011, and traded at 1,869 yen at 9:29 a.m. in Tokyo.
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The full U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington will rehear a case on Obamacare tax subsidies, granting a government request in a move that may reduce chances of a new Supreme Court showdown over a central part of the law. A rehearing sets up the possibility that the full court will reverse the July ruling of a three-judge panel that blocked subsidies for consumers on federally run health exchanges, a key element to the 2010 health-care overhaul.
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A federal appeals court threw out gay-marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin , making them the fourth and fifth states since June to lose the battle one step below the U.S. Supreme Court. The unified ruling, issued yesterday by a Chicago-based three-judge panel, came just nine days after it heard arguments from attorneys for both states seeking reversal of trial-court decisions this year.
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Former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell, left, leaves U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on the third day of deliberations of his corruption trial on Sept. 4, 2014, in Richmond, Virginia.
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The full U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington will rehear a case on Obamacare tax subsidies, granting a government request in a move that may reduce chances of a new Supreme Court showdown over a central element of the Affordable Care Act. A rehearing sets up the possibility that the full court will reverse the ruling of a three-judge panel that blocked subsidies for consumers on federal-run health exchanges, a key element to the 2010 overhaul of healthcare in America.
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